The Vengeful and The Valiant
by El Reino
Summary: She hated that he would never see who she truly was on the Dawn Treader. One sided Lucian. T for violence and slight gore. Reviews and flames are appreciated.
1. Chapter 1

This is my first Narnia fanfic, so I welcome anything you think I can improve on. This was a random idea I had when I was poking around the Lucian community. I hope you like it, and I do admit, it's not really in the style I would have hoped.

Reviews are appreciated. Comments, concerns, questions.

Disclaimers: All of the Chronicles of Narnia belong to the brilliant C.S. Lewis.

Rating: High T for violence and gore.

**Edited**

* * *

Lucy hated that he would never truly see who she was on board the Dawn Treader. Yes, he saw her happy and carefree as she always was. He even saw glimpses of the Queen she once was when he had come to her and Edmund to ask advice about ruling a country. He had seen her fearful yet defiant when she was kidnapped by slavers.

But he had always viewed her as a child. He had only seen her cute freckles and her body that had not yet fully matured into a woman. He had seen her as a sister at best. Yet she had seen him as…

She shook her head to clear out the cobwebs as the man lunged towards her again. She moved fluidly, her sword an extension of her arm. Even as she ducked and weaved her enemy's blade, her mind was in all places at once. Peter had taught her one important thing. He had taught her to be alert, but he had taught her how to let her instincts take over. She wouldn't be able to fight unless she _let go_.

So Lucy let go. She let her instincts take over and her mind go blank. The man who was attacking her was beefy and ugly. He was hardly the best assassin. But he was a good sword master.

He thrust widely, trying to catch her in her side. She parried with the flat of her blade and put her weight into it. It was a mistake. It caused her to fall slightly off balance and the assassin took the best of it. He lunged and brought the blade down on her throat.

The man Lucy was protecting hissed from his spot on the bed. He would have finished the man off himself if he wasn't immobile, poisoned by the assassin. He was only alive because the brute had put an inadequate amount in his food and did not work properly.

The assassin had come to finish the job, yet he met an unexpected surprise.

Lucy just barely brought up her sword to block her foe's once more. He growled and Lucy bared her teeth back in defiance. He would not kill her or the King. She had not come all this way to die.

She kicked the man in the leg and brought down her blade heavily over his head. Distracted, he half heartedly deflected the blow. She took this opportunity. Faster than the assassin or the King could have imagined, she brought the blade back and thrust it into the assassin's torso with one savage blow.

The brutish man paused, his eyes widening. He looked down at his waist where the blood was seeping out. He met Lucy's eyes. She glared and pushed it in farther. It made a sickly sucking noise.

He grunted. Then his eyes rolled up into his head, but not before he gave Lucy a slightly appreciative look. He was proud that he would be killed by such a worthy opponent.

Lucy's arm trembled as she realized she was the only thing holding the man up. She withdrew the blade and the man fell to the floor. She sagged, her body tired. She had not fought like that in so long. In fact, she had never fought for her life with a sword before, because Peter and Edmund always had her with the archers.

"Lucy," came a hoarse voice from the bed.

She ripped her eyes off the body and met the confused and shocked eyes of the man before her. Only then did she notice the savage cut on her arm, or the fact she was covered in the dead man's blood. Only then did she realize that he had never seen her like this. She had never seen her savagely angry. He had never seen her fight. He had never seen how brave she could really and truly be. He had never seen her truly _valiant._

She looked at him angrily. She had only come here because she once loved him. She had only come here because she knew she couldn't let Narnia without a leader. But why did she agree to come and save a man who had snubbed her?

Maybe it was because he had never seen this side of her and was never able to appreciate it. Maybe she hoped that he would stop seeing her as a child and finally as a woman. Under the blood and her loose tunic, she certainly looked like one now. Maybe she could show him what he had missed.

She swallowed, but her throat was dry. "Hullo Caspian."


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello, all. I couldn't resist another chapter after a while and this came flowing out. I can't promise another one but I do hope you enjoy. Please forgive any mistakes and reviews are love.**

**Thank you all.**

**95**

* * *

It was a centaur who rushed in first, brandishing a sword. Lucy did not know who he was but she determined from the expensive pendant on his neck that he was either an adviser or a prophet. Prophet, she decided as she turned to face the newcomer and dropped her weapon. It would make sense that he would be rushing in first instead of the guard. Suddenly, everything was a rush as the room filled with people following the prophet. They were loud, clamoring around the King and Lucy put her shaking hands up to her ears, wishing they would stop.

She had a _splitting _headache. It was the adrenaline, she knew, cleansing itself from her blood stream. Peter had once informed her of what adrenaline could do to her body.

_"I'm not telling this as justification for you station yourself on the front lines every time a war breaks." He said, wagging his index finger at her. "I'm telling this so you can be prepared. Safe. So you know what is happening. Understand?"_

Lucy had understood, but she hadn't had time to prepare for these feelings when all this happened. She was disoriented and her body ached as if she had run up the highest peak in Narnia without resting once. Her whole body quivered and she would have liked nothing more than to collapse right then, next to the fallen assassin. She was cold, despite the sweat that ran down her temples.

She was glad that everyone seemed to be ignoring her for the moment because she didn't trust her voice. A tear slipped down her cheek and she bit back a sob. She had been so scared. Scared for Caspian, scared for her own life. One minute she was standing in a library in London and the next, a man was standing over Caspian's bed and about to end the King.

She had just reacted, ripping a nearby sword from the wall, a feral yell ripping itself from her throat.

Lucy looked down at the body next to her. She had seen dead men and animals before, but as always, the sight never failed to shake her to the core.

A sob escaped her lips finally and she stumbled out into the hallway. She heard a series of shouts follow her but she her head hurt too much to care. She just wanted to get away from the noise, from the body, from the smell.

The queen crashed into a stone wall and she slid down it. She shivered but enjoyed the cool feeling of the rocks against her back.

_"The trick is breathing, Lu. Big, deep breaths as if you're trying to swallow an ocean. It not only calms you down but it clears your head. Slow and deep that's the trick."_

The way Lucy gasped at air; she knew she was not heeding Peter's words. She was hyperventilating and could possibly cause herself to pass out. Footsteps ran towards her and she glanced down the hall, feverishly noting that she had actually walked pretty far.

Then, just as she had suspected, she slowly slumped over and fainted.

* * *

Sunlight is what eventually woke Lucy up. It was gentle, slowly prying her eyes open so it could greet her with its radiance. Its kindness alerted Lucy to the fact that it was early morning, a little later than dawn and she was satisfied that she had not slept half of the day away. Her father hated when his children did that calling them "layabouts". Lucy had been the first to break her habit of sleeping until noon, not wanting to disappoint her father.

The young woman blinked and yawned, stretching. Her muscles pulled painfully and the events of what caused the pain came rushing back. Her heart beat sped up slightly until she forced herself to breathe deeply. She took stock of what hurt body parts hurt and her surroundings. She was in an unfamiliar room and lying on an unfamiliar bed but by the smell of the blanket above and the sheets underneath; she knew exactly where she was. Narnia.

The High Queen groaned with pleasure and snuggled deeper into bed. The breeze that gently tickled her nose also alerted her to the fact that she was at Cair Paravel, her home for many years. She had dreamed and even hoped of coming back but her chances seemed slim to none. Aslan had never said that she could not come back, but she was old now, older than Peter and Susan when they stopped coming. Now she was here, in one of the few places that had ever felt like home.

After a few moments, she finally pulled herself out of bed and slowly walked around it. As much as she liked reveling in the fact that she was in Narnia, she had business to attend to. There had still been an assassin out to kill Caspian and she had killed the traitor herself. There would be repercussions all across the kingdom as the King and his advisers attempted to figure out who had sent the killer for hire. Lucy also wanted to check on Caspian herself and make sure that all was well with him.

Two dresses were lying on the end of the bed. One was red and seemed almost formal to a woman would had become used to school uniforms and oxfords. Another was white and reminded Lucy of a summer dress she owned back in London. She took a liking to it right away.

Yet her muscles were still very stiff and Lucy doubted she could pull it over her head without some help, especially with one arm hurt. It had been bandaged but was sore and tender to the touch. She carefully toddled over to the bathroom and to her delight, a bath had been prepared and was still warm and the perfumes that had been placed in the water wafted up to Lucy's nose. She sniffed at them and smiled. This was exactly what she needed to relax.

* * *

After donning the dress (with a small amount of difficulty) and pulling her hair back with a ribbon she had found with other items for grooming on her vanity, she made her way downstairs to the kitchen. To her surprise, the castle was still virtually empty. She had taken her time in the bath, dozing off occasionally so it was a bit past early morn. But she noticed that she had been placed in the suites opposite of the large one royal suite Caspian probably was in and assumed that most of the staff was congregated over there.

_No matter,_ thought Lucy. She would rather sneak down to the kitchens alone than get diverted by a well meaning servant or anybody else in service of King Caspian. Her stomach was rumbling loudly and her hunger was enormous. She knew that exerting herself in the way she did was the reason for her hunger and she sighed.

She was not remorseful for killing that man. For she realized that in a corrupt world killing was sometimes necessary. But rather, she was remorseful that she _had_ to kill and that apparently, Caspian's safety was not assured. Her heart ached at the knowledge that Caspian had come close to death. The thought of it was almost more than she could bear.

Lucy sighed once again and pushed the thought out of her head before it could get the best of her. No matter the reasons she had agreed to come here, Caspian would never love her. He would be grateful for all she had done, yes, but that didn't assure love. He had more than likely married Ramandu's daughter and they more than likely had children and were very happy together. If she was to stay for even a day or more she had to come to the realization that Aslan had only called her here so that she could save Caspian from death. She could not look at her mission as a selfish one.

Lucy grinned inwardly at that. Mission. It sounded very brave, like she was having an epic adventure or something of the sort. It was exactly what she had wished for when she was a student at college. When life was tedious and not full of talking animals and Kings and Queens and magic.

The smells of fresh bread reached her and Lucy's stomached roared at the smell. She laughed and placed both hands on it as if she could calm it down.

_Peace, stomach. We're almost there._

She strolled through the door and was greeted by a sight that made Lucy beam. Servants and cooks rushed around, no doubt preparing breakfast or dinner for a castle full of hungry people. A talking animal who seemed to be the one commanding everyone was guarding and occasionally stirring a pot. It-she- was a Bear. A small one in comparison to the bears on Earth but a bear none the less. She seemed to be very energetic and sharp and she hustled and bustled around the kitchen with other talking animals and humans alike. None of them seemed to notice Lucy standing in the doorway until the bear looked up.

"Oh! Oh!" She exclaimed as she rushed towards Lucy, her paws high in the air. "High Queen Lucy! Oh, it's an honor, I mean I've heard stories but oh- you must be starving!"

Lucy looked down at her rumbling stomach and gave a sheepish smile. "Yes, ma'am I do believe I am."

"Well come, sit, sit! We'll have you fed, don't you worry. Agatha-that's me, your Graciousness- has never let a person in her kitchen go hungry and you will be no exception."

Lucy allowed herself to be engulfed in soft, black fur and smiled gratefully as the Bear practically carried her to a wooden table in the middle of the kitchen.

"Thank you very much," Lucy said. "I really do appreciate all this."

"Oh you are so kind, your Highness, no need to be thanking me. It's the least I can do for the Queen. I am sorry we don't have anything better to serve at the moment than bread and stew, but don't you worry about that. We will have something more befitting to your station soon."

Lucy shook her head and thanked a small girl who served her a large bowl of stew with a hunk of bread on the side.

"It is quite alright, Mrs. Agatha. At this point I will probably be willing to eat a moldy, uncooked potato."

The Bear looked scandalized. "Oh no, your Majesty, there will be none of that here. Now you just eat your stew and let me know if you need more." She shuffled off and Lucy immediately turned her attention to the stew before her.

It was a meaty affair with chunks of potatoes and carrots floating around. She knew she must act like a queen, but Lucy was so hungry she devoured two bowls of the thick, creamy stew with bread to soak up the liquid before her hunger was abated.

The Bear seemed very happy with Lucy's appetite and lay a plate of strawberries before her after the stew was taken away.

"These were picked in the royal garden itself. I hope you enjoy."

Lucy thanked her once again, appreciating every second of the love the Bear seemed to radiate. Agatha in turn, bowed low and puffed up her chest in happiness and a small bit of pride. She turned, humming and attended the pots. Lucy was about to reach for a strawberry, reminding herself not to stain her dress when a figure appeared at the doorway.

"Lucy?"

Lucy turned her head then jumped up from the bench. "Caspian!" She cursed herself for looking to eager then forgot all about it when Caspian rushed up and two strong arms encircled her small shoulders in a hug. He stroked her hair and Lucy hugged back.

"Oh how I've missed you, Queen Lucy."


End file.
